"I didn't want to leave before it was a success," Labourey said. He has been with the open source Java application server vendor since 2001.

While not leaving with any animosity, Labourey did say there have been difficulties in producing the JBoss 5.0 application server. "The last two years have been pretty difficult for us because we've been late delivering JBoss 5.0," he said. The product, which shipped in December 2008, arrived about two years' late because the architecture was revamped to promote migrations from rival application server platforms.

JBoss also is thinking about extending its application server to support other languages, Labourey said.

Labourey plans to work as a contractor for Red Hat now and does not have any other plans at the moment. "I'm always interested in starting new things but there is nothing specific today," Labourey said. His job at JBoss CTO will be taken over by Mark Little, who has been leading the company's SOA strategy, said Labourey.